Miriam Friedman Ben-David Award

About Award

In memory of the late Miriam Friedman Ben David, AMEE created a New Educator’s Award which was presented for the first time in 2008.

AMEE invites nominations for this award for those deemed to have made a significant contribution to teaching in a relatively short time.

The prize is free registration for the next AMEE conference, plus £1,000 (no facilities and administration fee). The winner will also be invited to present a short communication presentation at an AMEE conference.

The Miriam Friedman Ben-David award is awarded to AMEE individual members who have made significant contributions within the field of health professions education at a local, regional, national or international level; its aim is to recognise and reward excellence in achievements /contributions to the field of health professions education from a new educator.

The candidate must be an AMEE individual member for at least one year before the submission date, and have applied for a second year renewal.

Although there is no restriction as to the age of the candidate they must not have been involved, in post-graduation health professions education for more than 10 years. The candidate’s involvement in healthcare education before graduation is not a major requirement of the prize but may be taken into account during the judging process.

The successful candidate, in addition to their holistic contributions to health professions education, will be recognised by their commitment to healthcare education through innovation for example their personal contributions to innovative course design and delivery (teaching, learning and assessment), their involvement in assisting their fellow educators in others personal development and their desire to continue to educate through their own personal development.

The winner of the Award is announced at the AMEE Conference.

Application Process

Letters of support: Candidates may be nominated or they may choose to nominate themselves; for each type of nomination, the candidate must provide letters of support highlighting why she/he deserves to win.

Candidates being nominated - Two letters are requested.

A letter of support from an AMEE individual or institutional member who is known personally by the candidate (For example those have been an AMEE member for several years and / or hold a designated position within the AMEE organisation i.e. Executive member, committee chair). This letter should clearly agree with the contributions provided by the candidate and state why they believe the candidate deserves the award in relationship to these contributions.

A letter of support from the candidate’s immediate line-manager, Head of Department, Departmental Chair or Dean. This letter should state the relationship between the candidate and the person writing the letter, confirmation that they agree with the candidates’ described activities and a short statement of why they believe the candidates deserve the award.

Candidates self - nominated - For those candidates who are self-nominating, each must provide a personal letter which summarises why they believe they deserve the award.

Short CV: Candidates are requested to complete the CV template. Other CV formats are not accepted.
The CV template allows the candidate to describe how their educational activities have influenced their own personal development as well as the development of their co-educators. Space is set-aside specifically for the candidates to ’sell themselves’, describing why they feel that they should win the award.

The headings within the template are:

Personal information

Education and qualifications

Professional experience in the field of health professions education

Major achievements in health professions education

Selected publications and presentations in the field of health professions education

Invited teaching (lectures/workshops/seminars) in the field of health professions education

Scholarly position(s) (research, teaching, etc.) in the field of health professions education

Funded scholarly projects in the field of health professions education professional membership(s)

A free-text section that permits the candidate to promote their achievements and vision as well as reinforcing why she/he deserved the priz

Submissions should be sent to [email protected] by 7 March 2019. When submitting the documentation, the candidate must inform the AMEE office if this is a first or second submission, notifying the AMEE office of the date of the previous submission(s). A copy of the submission e-mail must be sent to the candidate’s Dean or Head of School in order that verification can be achieved at a later phase if necessary - this is the responsibility of the candidate.

Judging Criteria

All members of the MFBD Award Committee will be involved in the judging of each submission.

The impact of innovative educational achievements will be assessed in terms of:

What improvement to health professions education has arisen as a result of changes instituted by the candidate

The breadth of impact of the candidate’s changes (broad intervention versus specific intervention in single specialty)

Impact upon the target audience

The longevity and sustainability of change made

Additional criteria: When two or more candidates show a similar level of evidence concerning the above criteria, other factors will be taken into account e.g. those who appear to be devoting their time to gain additional competencies such as a tertiary degree in education, over and above those required by their profession, and those candidates who are showing outstanding achievements in regions where health professions education is practiced under difficult circumstances.